Mini Reviews – Fringe & The Mentalist

Two down, eight to go. The first two new pilots of the season I’ve seen, Fringe and The Mentalist, haven’t failed to impress and have left me with a positive outlook for the rest of the 2008-09 television season.

Fringe instantly captured my attention and despite it’s feature-length pilot kept me gripped throughout. The pure brillance of the opening scene, where a deadly contagion is unleashed on an airbourne plane, had me on the edge of my seat in a rollercoaster ride of fear and anxiety. The production of the show is brilliant with special effects that will turn your stomach as you see the effects of the contagion, the writing is great with just enough twists and turns to keep it from being just another predictable crime drama, and the characters are interesting enough to keep the show afloat for atleast a full season. The only let-down is Anna Torv’s acting and with the premiere of the pilot less than six weeks away the possibility of a recast is highly unlikely so it’s up to her to improve her skills and raise the quality of the show even higher. That aside, the show has a lot of potential and I’m very optimistic about the future of the show.

I was less impressed with The Mentalist and, while far from exception, it is a decent show non-the-less. If you’re a big fan of crime shows then I’m sure you’ll enjoy it but if you’re just an occasional viewer of the genre looking for an enjoyable, interesting new show to watch then I’d go for Fringe instead.

New Pilots – Synopsises & Thoughts On Some Of This Year’s Up & Coming New Shows

Well the word is out on the new shows we’ll be seeing over the next year. As always there’s a variety of new dramas, crime shows, teen soaps, and comedies on the big networks’ lists and more shows than any one person with a 9-5 job has the time to watch so I’ve narrowed down my list to just ten shows. Full reviews of several of these shows will follow as I get around to watching the pilots but in the mean time brief synopsises and my thoughts on the plots of each shows below.

Dollhouse

Echo is just one of the playthings in The Dollhouse, a secret – and highly illegal – facility where human slaves are programmed to fulfill the fantasies, needs, and whims of the rich and powerful. These “Dolls” can be the perfect companion, lover, even the perfect spy, and when the job is done they forget everything. But something is wrong with Echo. She is no longer just a blank slate waiting for her next assignment. She is remembering flashes of the lives that she has lived and the games she has played, and she is starting to wonder just who she really is. Cast includes Eliza Dushku.

I’m not particularly thrilled by the fact that Eliza Dushku is starring – upon rewatching Tru Calling a few months back I realized just how little acting talent and screen presence she really has – but I’m not put-off enough for that to stop me from watching. I’m relatively happy with the casting of Tahmoh Penikett, I wouldn’t say he was a particularly outstanding actor but he isn’t terrible either and I can see that he’d be able to pull off the role pretty well considering his role isn’t this doesn’t appear to be all that different from the character he plays in Battlestar Galactica. He’s also not a bad-looking guy which, in my book, goes in his favour. And of course Joss Whedon is the show’s executive producer and head writer. As I’m sure you all know by now, I have a HUGE amount of respect for Joss Whedon (even more so after the fantastic Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog) – I think he has such passion and dedication to his shows that it just makes the writing shine and of course I think Buffy, Angel and Firefly are three of the best and most influential shows ever to grace our TV screens – so there’s no way on Earth I wouldn’t watch the pilot of this show I just really hope he knows what he’s doing both in casting Eliza Dushku and in working with FOX again. I just hope that giving in to FOX’s request of a prequel to the show to serve as it’s new pilot plays out for the best.

Fringe

FBI agents Olivia Dunham and Peter Bishop are faced with a rapidly spreading unexplained phenomenon of the threatening kind. In an attempt to stop the spread, they enlist the assistance of Bishop’s estranged father, the institutionalized scientist Dr. Walter Bishop. Cast includes John Noble.

I’m interested to see how this will be tackled as it sounds more like a season-long arc rather than the entire premise for a show but then again I figured a show about a group of stranded plane crash survivors couldn’t last for more than one season and I was wrong there. Aside from that, John Noble is, in my opinion, a great actor so I’m looking forward to his presence in a new show.

The Mentalist

The Mentalist tells the tale of Patrick Jane who is employed as an independent detective working with the California Bureau of Investigation to solve crimes. He has refined his observations skills to a near perfect level and lends these skills to the CBI to help them solve cases. The team that he works with consists of the senior agent, Teresa Gibson, agents Kimball Cho & Wayne Rigsby and the rookie, Grace Van Pelt. Cast includes Amanda Righetti and Robin Tunney.

Points for Amanda Righetti, I like her, she’s a decent actress, she doesn’t irritate me. That’s rare. Robin Tunney on the other hand… well, I’m certain I wasn’t along in pleading for her character to be killed off in Prison Break? Part of me hopes that it was just the character that I found unbearable and not the actress but she wasn’t much better in House so I hold out little hope for her in this new show. The premise sounds a little Criminal Minds-esque and, as much as I enjoy that show, I don’t want to watch two of the same so as long as this show is tackled a little differently I’ll probably keep watching.

Privileged

Originally called Surviving the Filthy Rich, this CW drama is an adaptation of the popular Zoey Dean novel How to Teach Filthy Rich Girls. In the series, Yale graduate Megan Smith recently moves to Manhattan with hopes of finding success in the field of journalism. However, when her plans go wrong, she accepts a job as the live-in tutor helping two wealthy high school students in Palm Springs get accepted at a top university. Privileged, from Alloy Entertainment in association with Warner Bros. Television and CBS Paramount Network Television., has reveived a 13 episode contract from The CW Television Network. The executive producers are Gilmore Girls’ Rina Mimoun and Gossip Girl’s Bob Levy and Leslie Morgenstein. Cast includes Michael Cassidy.

Hmm, this sounds familiar. Rich, privileged teenagers, Palm Springs, and Michael Cassidy. Anyone remember a little show called Hidden Palms that aired last summer? While it might not have been the best show ever, or even a decent show at that, it did prove one thing to me. Michael Cassidy can act. With that knowledge, and also knowing that the executive producers of two of my favourite guilty pleasures – Gilmore Girls and Gossip Girl – are involved, I’m willing to give this one a shot. At the very least it’ll be a waste of an hour of my life. At the very most it’ll be as good a guilty pleasure as Gossip Girl has been for me this year.

90210

From Jeff Judah and Gabe Sachs, the creators of the hit television series Life As We Know It and producers of Freaks And Geeks and originally written by Rob Thomas, creator of Veronica Mars comes the retelling tale of FOX’s 1990’s hit drama Beverly Hills, 90210. The series revolves around the three-generational Mills family who have recently moved to Beverly Hills, California after the father Harrison Mills accepts the position of being the principal of West Beverly Hills High School.

If Privileged doesn’t managed to pull me in and become my new guilty pleasure then maybe this show will. Everyone needs a show in their life that requires absolutely no brain power and is simple enough to just sit down, switch off and enjoy for an hour. Maybe that show’ll be 90210.

My Own Worst Enemy

Edward Albright is a super spy. Henry Spivey is living the normal American dream living in the suburbs with his wife, two kids and dog. The two have one thing in common they share the same body because Edward took part in an experiment several years earlier to create a split personality. Cast includes Christian Slater.

Christian Slater on TV. I’m not entirely convinced I could watch him for more than the two hours at a time that I’m used to, having only seen him in movies. He doesn’t really strike me as the leading-male-in-a-TV-series type, nor do I particularly buy him as a spy but if Jennifer Garner can pull it off then maybe Christian Slater can too. The plot seems interesting enough and I always enjoy a good spy-drama when done well so I’ll give it a shot but I’m not holding out a lot of hope for this one.

The Listener

Toby Logan is a 24-year-old paramedic who can read people’s thoughts. The show, which contains humorous and tragic elements, follows Toby as he uses his power to solve crimes.

I know there’s one of these type of shows every year and no one can even name the last show that pulled off the whole psychic crime-solver thing successfully (probably because it’s never actually happened) but every year I say “ooh, maybe I’ll watch that one” and this year is no different. Atleast it’s a paramedic this year and not a cop, right

Eleventh Hour

This Jerry Bruckheimer (CSI) produced sci-fi series on CBS is an adaptation of a British thriller of the same name. The new show is about a special science adviser to the US government who saves people from the worst abuses of science. He is accompanied by his feisty female bodyguard.CBS ordered the show to series on 12 May 2008.The show is being produced by Granada International, Jerry Bruckheimer Television and Warner Bros. Television.

Again, a premise with little originality. Jerry Bruckheimer isn’t known for his masterpieces (come on, CSI is a decent show but it’s by no means exceptional or ground-breaking) and this one screams X-Files rip-off but what can you do? With the lack of fresh, exciting new pilots this season I’m willing to give most anything a go – including CBS’s attempt at mainstream science-fiction.

Crusoe

Based on the classic Daniel Defoe novel, this NBC drama promises plenty of action and adventure of the tropical type. Cast includes Sean Bean.

Well, I think it’s safe to say you know what you’re getting when it comes to this show. Let’s just hope it works as a television show. And if it doesn’t… well, atleast there’s Sean Bean, right?

The Oaks

The Oaks is a new drama/sci-fi show from the writer and producer of Desperate Housewives David Schulner. The Oaks tells the story of three families who move into the same haunted house in different decades, 1968, 1998 and 2008.

This show merely has me intrigued as to how it’s going to be written. The basic premise suggests it should be told as a serious horror story however the fact that it’s written and produced by David Shulner is making me think it might play out as more of a dark comedy. Although it has the potential to make for a great movie I don’t see how they’re going to be able to extend it for television and still keep it interesting so it’ll be interesting to see how they tackle that too.

Review – Dr. Horrible’s Sing Along Blog

Normally this is a show that would’ve completely escaped my attention due to: a) it’s title, and b) the fact that it’s a webseries. However, upon hearing that Joss Whedon’s name was attached to the project, I really couldn’t resist. Dr. Horrible’s Sing Along Blog does not disappoint and despite it’s unusual style and delivery it still possesses many of the aspects which make Whedon’s shows so interesting and enjoyable.

The webisode begins with it’s titular character, Dr. Horrible, recording a video entry for his blog. The first few minutes show him practising his evil laugh, before responding to several emails in a typical video blog fashion. One email asks about a woman that Dr. Horrible often refers to in his blog and, on this cue, the series jumps into a musical. The change of style is comical but flawless as the scene switches from a stationary shot of Dr. Horrible, presumably taken from his webcam, to a more typical television-style scene in a laundrette which uses a variety of camera techniques, all edited to match the beat of the surprisingly catchy song. The scene switches back and forth between the laundrette and Dr. Horrible recording his blog entry, as he sings about his freeze-ray and the girl in the laundrette that he has fallen for. Whedon’s uncanny ability to write a scene that is equally comical and serious is at it’s best during this number and it is undoubtedly one of the best moments of the series so far.

The song is cut short as Dr. Horrible’s friend and ally, Moist, enters and offers to help. After another song – performed by a trio of cowboys that appear out of nowhere – the series takes on an entirely new tone as we are shown Dr. Horrible enacting his evil plan. The scene parodies a heist movie, with Dr. Horrible releasing a remote control which is magnetically attracted to a van across the street while distorted, fast-paced music reminiscent of Alias plays. The pace of the series changes again as Penny, the object of Dr. Horrible’s affections from the laundrette, appears behind him singing. After a rather awkward conversation about homeless people, Penny leaves and Dr. Horrible sadly sings that “a man’s gotta do what a man’s gotta do” and that “soon [he'll] control everything” before his song is interrupted by that of Captain Hammer – the arch-nemesis of Dr. Horrible – who thwarts Dr. Horrible’s plan and saves Penny. Penny thanks him and sings a duet with Captain Hammer while Dr. Horrible grumbles unheard in the background and walks off muttering a disgruntled “balls”.

Joss Whedon once again delivers a show that stands out from the norm, playing with the roles of protagonist and antagonist so that the audience find themselves identifying and sympathising with the villain of the story. Although it plays on many stereotypes, the typical hero/villain dialogue (such as Captain Hammer’s “Dr. Horrible, I should’ve known you were behind this”), the oft-used convention within the musical genre of Dr. Horrible singing at Penny without her noticing, and many other conventions typical of the heist, action and musical genres. The series makes fun of itself by playing on these conventions one moment and by turning them on their heads the next moment. The different genres of the show are flawlessly combined as Joss Whedon provides a show truly unique in it’s unusual blend of genres. The acting is superb with Neil Patrick Harris portraying Dr. Horrible as a stereotypical villain while still making the character fun and likeable, Nathan Fillion playing the cheesy, vain and over-the-top superhero, Captain Hammer, and Felicia Day playing the damsel-in-distress Penny.

Don’t be fooled by the title and the fact that this show has been classified as a musical, Dr. Horrible still delivers. This series is sure to make you laugh, sigh in sympathy, and more than anything it will be unlike anything else you’ve seen on television before. Whedon, it’s good to have you back in business.

You can watch part one of Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog online now at DrHorrible.com. Part two will be available from Thursday 17th July and part three will be available from Saturday 19th July for a limited period of time only.

Review – Stargate: Continuum

Please note that this review contains major spoilers for Stargate: Continuum. If you do not wish to be spoiled then please do not read the rest of this post.

The movie begins with SG-1 gating to a planet where the Tok’ra are extracting the Ba’al symbiote from the final (or so they believe) clone. In his last words Ba’al threatens that he has a failsafe in place that the real Ba’al will carry out should his last clone be killed. SG-1 are hesitant to believe him and allow the Tok’ra to continue with the extraction procedure. Moments later, Vala disappears but no one believes the circumstances to be suspicious until more people begin to disappear into thin air, including Teal’c, right in front of them. Ba’al breaks free and stabs O’Neill but Mitchell opens fire on Ba’al, killing him. A dying O’Neill insists that Carter, Mitchell and Daniel leave him and they reluctantly make for the gate, barely making it through in time before the entire Tok’ra settlement vanishes. They step through on the other side of the gate to find that they are on a ship by the name of Achilles in the middle of the Arctic Circle. Daniel recalls that the Achilles was the ship that carried the stargate to the US and led to the Stargate project being formed under Cheyenne Mountain. Sam points out that the temperature aboard the ship is falling and they will freeze to death within minutes if they don’t do something. Mitchell blows a hole in the ice and the explosion causes the ship to begin sinking. They quickly escape but Daniel injures his leg and Mitchell and Carter are forced to leave him behind and continue on to find help. Jack O’Neill rescues the three of them and they are taken back to a submarine where they learn that they are in an alternate timeline where the stargate never reached the US and the stargate project was never formed. They are informed that the Samantha Carter in this universe is an astronaut who went down with her ship and is believed to be dead, Daniel Jackson is a discredited archaeologist who was last seen out in Egypt trying to prove his theories about the pyramids being landing sites for alien spaceships, and that Colonel Cameron Mitchell doesn’t exist at all.

The rest of the film depicts the struggle of Mitchell, Carter and Daniel as they strive to stop Ba’al – who now has control over all of the remaining system lords and is the most powerful Goa’uld in the galaxy – his queen Quetesh, and his first prime Teal’c, and to fix the timeline so that things return to how they should be.

This movie definitely provides some clarity for long-term fans, both by wrapping up the long-running storyline of the fight against the Goa’uld system lords and by bringing back Richard Dean Anderson and Don S. Davis to reprise their popular roles as General Jack O’Neill and General George Hammond – two of the show’s most important characters in its earlier seasons. There are also brief appearances from Colin Cunningham (Major Paul Davis), Dan Shea (Sergeant Siler), William Devane (President Henry Hayes), and a number of Goa’uld system lords we have seen on Stargate SG-1 in the past.

The beginning of the movie has a few nice moments that will bring back memories for long-term fans, from Gary Jones’s character’s comment about “after ten years and about a thousand email requests, I finally get my own parking spot” to SG-1 running into Major Davis and Sergeant Siler, who asks Colonel Mitchell to sign an autograph for his son.

The rest of the movie, however, suffers from a lack of unoriginality, with many of the storylines and plot devices repeating what we have already seen on the show in the past, primarily time travel, fake-out deaths, and what side a Teal’c from another reality will choose. On a more positive note, the production of the movie is most definitely on a scale that we have never seen before in the entire run of the show, with a portion of the film being filmed in the spectacular-looking arctic and the use of a nuclear submarine and two F15s – props worthy of a James Bond movie. Special effects are used relatively sparsely and even where present the CGI is good enough so as not to distract from the writing and acting, which really shine through in moments such as when we are shown how SG-1 react to having to live out a normal life with no contact with each other for a small period of time.

All in all, Continuum is a good movie in itself and newcomers to the show should definitely enjoy the entertainment that it provides. However, long-term fans may find themselves disappointed by a lack of new storytelling techniques and the movie’s failure to provide a relatively fresh and original storyline.

After the amount of buzz surrounding the upcoming movie, I was expecting to see something that made The Ark of Truth pale in comparison but, in my opinion, Continuum was merely on a par with its predecessor. We can only hope that the third and final instalment will provide what the first two have not.

Stargate: Continuum airs in the US on Tuesday 29th July on the Sci-Fi channel. Stargate: Continuum airs in the UK on Tuesday 12th August on the Skyone.